Prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus and staphylococcal enterotoxins at different stages of production of raw milk cheeses - preliminary results

The aim of the study was to identify the potential sources of contamination of traditionally made cheeses during their production with Staphylococcus aureus. The samples were collected at nine dairy farms at different points of manufacturing the cheeses. Isolation and enumeration of coagulase positive staphylococci (CPS) on Baird- Parker RPF agar was conducted, and detection of staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) was performed using ELISA and ELFA. The genes encoding SEs were identified by PCR. CPS were isolated from 51 samples with the highest level of contamination in mature cheese up to 10⁷ CFU g⁻¹. No SEs were detected in tested samples; however, enterotoxic CPS strains were found.